ACUHO-I News Blog

In Inside HigherEd this week: Campus counseling centers report a 16% increase in their visitors in 2009; the gender gap has quit growing (mostly), and plagiarism education helps prevent that form of cheating — perhaps because students are aware their institution is paying attention to the issue; perhaps because they previously didn’t realize what qualifies as plagiarism.

NO MORE EARLY VACATIONS: Think it’s not worth holding class the Friday before spring break? Faculty leaders at Penn State want you to know they disagree.

LOOKING FOR HELP: Campus counseling centers report a 16% increase in last year in students seeking assistance.

GENDER GAP STOPS GROWING: New analysis suggests that — except for Latinos — the decline in male enrollment rates has leveled off:

PLAGIARISM PREVENTION WITHOUT FEAR: New trial suggests that teaching students about integrity issues can be effective, especially with those who may otherwise be the most likely to copy.

AWAITING THE TABLET: Will Apple’s new electronic device galvanize the market for e-textbooks and transform higher education?

After a hectic morning, the Veterans Administration is hoping the afternoon goes a little more smoothly. The fall administration of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill was confusing for veterans, institutions, and, seemingly, the VA itself. Some payments were delayed as the agency dealt with an upswing in demand for education benefits. The increased demand was probably due to the more generous provisions of this bill compared to other recent G.I. Bills, and the slow economy.

V.A. officials say the have received 132,000 enrollment certifications for the current term, and 105,000 have been processed. They didn’t say how many veterans have their benefits in-hand. The agency has promised all veterans who submitted materials by January 19 will have received their benefits by February 1. Materials received after that will be processed as soon as possible.

There are still about 500 veterans who have yet to receive their fall benefits. The V.A. and institutions blame each other for the fall delays, and relations between them are frosty. The V.A. says it didn’t receive some enrollment certification forms until the late fall; institutions say the V.A.’s work was backed up well before the late fall, and that they offered students leniency, and even interest-free loans, to help veterans stay in school and pay for necessities.

Both parties are hoping things will be easier this spring; the V.A. is expressing confidence about this; institutions are expressing doubt.

A body, likely that of one of the students from the Lynn University group who was in Haiti for a service-learning project, was recovered, and her parents were informed. The students and faculty members were at their hotel when the earthquake occurred. A layer-by-layer recovery of the hotel debris will begin soon. Three other students and two faculty members are still unaccounted for. One of the missing students had a 20th birthday was recently: A sawhorse on her parents driveway, with a sign requesting privacy, was festooned with Mylar balloons. Eight other students were found and have returned to the United States. Lynn University is maintaining a site with updates.

This week on Inside HigherEd, institutions assist Haitian students, fewer freshmen are choosing to study business, and there have been historic cuts to higher education in many states, among other news items.

FRESHMEN ABANDON BUSINESS: Amid recession, incoming students find field of study less appealing than ever, according to national survey.

HISTORIC DECLINES: Study shows extent of state cuts to higher education and key role of federal stimulus funds in minimizing (but not preventing) absolute drops in support over last two years.

HELP FOR HAITIAN STUDENTS: Colleges in New York City and Miami rush to provide counseling and other services to large populations of students affected by last week’s earthquake.

FREEZER BURN: Tuition freezes may be politically popular, and even appropriate in emergencies, but they often lead to dramatic hikes in future years.

SPORTS SUBSIDIES SOAR: At time of financial peril in higher education, ‘USA Today’ data show level of institutional financing for athletics programs is large and growing.

The UD Daily, a website operated by the University of Delaware’s media relations folks, has posted a story about the positive experiences three of their graduate students had with internship programs last summer. All the students mentioned in the story are majoring in counseling and student affairs in higher education. Two of the students were involved in ACUHO-I’s Internship Program. Carly Day went to Jacksonville University, Florida; and Christina Busse worked at the University of Minnesota – Deluth. A third student landed a National Orientation Directors Association (NODA) internship: Sara Jaques was at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

More bookstores are renting more textbooks; keeping student health affordable, a report states that minority students haven’t benefitted enough from aid given to public research universities, and other stories are at Inside HigherEd this week.

TEXTBOOKS FOR RENT … EVERYWHERE: Major bookstore chains announce plans to launch or expand rental programs, suggesting a market shift.

KEEPING STUDENT HEALTH AFFORDABLE: Higher ed asks Congress to tweak its bill to ensure that college-based plans aren’t classified as pricier “individual” policies.

FLOGGING THE FLAGSHIPS: Despite well-publicized expansions of aid, public research universities have made too little progress in expanding representation of low-income and minority students, report asserts.

SHIFTING GROUND ON THE SIDELINES: As 3 football coaches lose jobs for mistreating players, have the rules about acceptable behavior — and the balance of power in college sports — changed?

HISTORIANS, SONS, DAUGHTERS: A panel of parents and children in the same academic discipline consider their field and their generations.

Colleges and Universities in the United States and elsewhere have tried, with limited success, to contact their Haitian counterparts, and students, staff and faculty traveling in Haiti. Lynn University in Boca Raton, FL, and the University of Florida have not been able to account for all their associates in Haiti.

A group of Lynn University students and faculty members had traveled to Haiti for a service-learning project; they were scheduled to return today. A friend in the Untied States received a text from one of the group members shortly after the quake saying the group was safe, but there has not been communication with them since.

The University of Florida has heard from two profesors in Haiti, but not from two journalism graduate students who were filming a documentary there.

After an anxious three-day wait, Blue Ridge University, in Weyers Cave, VA, received an e-mail that four people, two students, a faculty member, and staff member were safe.

Is your institution waiting to hear from someone in Haiti? Let us know, and know ACUHO-I’s thoughts are with you.

Colleges and Universities employ a myriad of programs aimed at retention; many, not all of these, are in the student affairs area; plenty of those are in housing. Living-learning communities, mentoring, tutoring, freshman introductory programs, second-year experience programs, et cetera, are all aimed at getting students to graduation and improving their experience along the way. The success of these programs is often measured on retention and graduation rates. But that’s not the only way to measure success; there’s also the more business-like (or callous?) way: do the students who stay (and continue paying tuition and fees) make up for the monies spent on the programs? For the most part, they do, says a report, Investing in Student Success, sponsored by Jobs for the Future and the Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity and Accountability. Thirteen institutions allowed their retention programs to be evaluated using a costs-to-returns calculator. While the return of a programs could not be accurately calculated because of a lack of necessary data, most did very well, their returns outstripping the costs considerably.

How much did we text last year? How many degrees did we earn? How long do we stay married? The United States Census knows us better than we know ourselves.

Micah Fialka-Feldman, an intellectually disabled student at Oakland University in Rochester, MI, is in a program for students like him; he takes mainstream classes, but uses tutors and other assistants to keep up and complete his coursework. Since he’s a part-time student in a special program, he was not allowed to live on campus. His commute from his parents’ home takes about two hours, and Fialka-Feldman felt he was missing out on campus life. He sued for the right to live in the on-campus residences, and recently found out he won. He’s hoping to move in soon, to begin his last semester at Oakland.

Many institutions limit on-campus housing to full-time students because allowing part-time students to live in campus might lead to other issues: people who are mostly non-students taking advantage of the low rental rates on campus; students with too much free time. However, this sort of policy excludes students such as Fialka-Feldman, who are part-time for other reasons. Students with varying disabilities (diagnosed or otherwise) make managing the living environment more challenging. On the other hand, students who drink too much, who violate the community rules or who avoid participating in community gatherings, also make it harder to nurture a cohesive and safe community. Not all disruptive factors can be controlled, and at what cost? Have you encountered similar issues on your campus? How have you dealt with them?

Jennifer Weiler, a freshman at Green Mountain College in Vermont, has sued the Vermont Department of Public Safety because Green Mountain offers co-ed bathrooms in her residence hall. Weiler contends that public buildings, including residence halls, are required by state law to offer bathrooms for men and women, and thus the state is remiss in policing its own policies. While the co-ed bathroom has private shower and toilet stalls Weiler says that men would often disrobe in the middle of the room. After she complained, the university designated one bathroom as female-only, but men kept using it anyway.

The suit echoes other bathroom issues nationwide, as students dispute if co-ed bathrooms are acceptable, if transgender students need their own washrooms, and so on. Our very own Communications Director, James Baumann, is quoted.

This week in Inside HigherEd, comparing two cities’ higher ed enrollment; community colleges gain students; Russian is the new hip language; a federal judge refuses a college’s request to allow a Supreme Court ruling to limit faculty speech; and Penn fires their basketball coach at an odd time. Plus, lots of Quick Takes for those of you in a quiet office.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES: Dissecting fall enrollments in Pittsburgh and Dallas, we find that public colleges boomed and independent institutions mostly held on, thanks to rising tide (and more merit aid). 

DEFINING THE ENROLLMENT BOOM: New study documents extent of the gains at community colleges, which are seeing particularly large increases in full-time students:

RUSSIA(N) IS BACK: Whether it’s Putin or Pushkin, student interest is sending language enrollments to levels unheard of since the Cold War:

FIRST AMENDMENT IN THE CLASSROOM: Federal judge rejects college’s request to apply Supreme Court ruling in way that would limit free speech rights of faculty members at public colleges:

JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE? Penn fires its men’s basketball coach midseason — an unusual step for any college, let alone an Ivy League sports program:

The public radio program This American Life is visiting Penn State, this year’s “#1 Party School,” according to the expert party-evaluators at the Princeton Review.

This American Life notes that the first place ranking (a prize, perhaps, for some students; a booby prize for administrators) rotates regularly. The University of Florida, West Virginia University, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the State University of New York-Albany, the University of Colorado-Boulder, Indiana University and Ohio University (Athens) are other recent “winners.” The University of Florida won “Best Career School” this year, so perhaps all that party networking does one good. The only constant is the year’s most “Stone-Cold Sober” institution, which is always Brigham Young University.

The methodology may not be academic journal-worthy, and given the lack of consistency, the rankings may not mean much (Indiana went from unranked to #1 in a year) but the party school ranking always gets a lot of press. This American Life decided to check out Penn on a football weekend to see what there is to be seen.

The story is on public radio stations nationwide this week; check your local public radio listings to see if they carry This American Life. (See the right sidebar on the This American Life website to locate a public radio station near you.) Next week, the broadcast will be available on the This American Life website.

This week on Inside HigherEd, the Supreme Court will soon decide whether religious student groups at public colleges and universities can ban gay members; more institutions find that what seems like an awful time for class is a great time for some prospective students; Lincoln University backs off requiring a health class for obese students; the GRE is redone again and Pell costs go boom.

CONFLICTING RIGHTS: Supreme Court will decide whether public colleges can apply anti-bias rules — including bans on anti-gay discrimination– to religious student groups seeking recognition or funding.

IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR: Community colleges that started offering sections in the middle of the night are finding the strategy worked, and such scheduling is spreading to other institutions.

LINCOLN U. ENDS OBESITY RULE: Faculty members vote to keep health class that set off national debate, but to make it optional.

THE NEW GRE, REDUX: Key test for graduate admissions will lose antonyms and analogies, replace some geometry with data analysis, alter scoring, and let test takers move among questions. ETS calls shifts significant; critics see cosmetic changes.

PELL COSTS EXPLODE: With demand booming, U.S. says grant program’s price tag will soar by $18 billion through 2011. Democrats see no impact on student loan reform.

In the news at Inside HigherEd this week, defining fitness, defining free speech, and re-defining access, as well as other stories:

STOPPING SHORT OF NO MORE FRENCH FRIES: As Lincoln U. debates fitness requirement for obese students, other institutions search for less controversial ways to deal with the issue.

TUFTS DEFINES SPEECH LIMITS: Trustees approve a policy that applauds free expression, but says it’s not an “absolute” right on campus.

ACCESS TO WHAT? Nevada chancellor mulls whether community colleges, strained by recession and budget crises, should limit enrollments to ensure success for more students.

THE BIG ADMISSIONS SHIFT: While everyone obsesses over the Ivies and Berkeley, Cal State — the largest university system in the United States — moves from being non-competitive to competitive on who gets in.

REDEFINING ACCESS AND SUCCESS: 24 public college systems develop new way of counting enrollments and completion rates — which show they have long way to go to close achievement gaps for minority and needy students.